Strategic Alliances

Sprucegrove

In 1995, Leith Wheeler made a strategic decision to hire Sprucegrove Investment Management Ltd. to manage our discretionary and institutional clients' International equities. Based in Toronto, Sprucegrove is one of the top global equity managers in North America and has an excellent track record of uncovering value. Like Leith Wheeler, Sprucegrove believes in the principles of value investing and shares our commitment to preserving and growing clients' capital.

In September 2001, we took our relationship with Sprucegrove a step further and gave them responsibility for managing our U.S. equity investments. This decision was based on Sprucegrove's proven talent and experience in the U.S. market.

Our alliance with Sprucegrove has allowed us to focus on the Canadian market and has given our clients the best of both worlds: expertise in both the global and Canadian equity markets.

Tradewinds Global Investors

In 2007, we undertook a comprehensive search for an International equity manager for Leith Wheeler Investment Funds and our Investment Funds clients. Sprucegrove was closed for new business. As a result of our efforts, we launched the International Equity Plus Fund in November of 2007, sub-advised by Tradewinds Global Investors of Los Angeles.

Similar to Leith Wheeler, Tradewinds follows a bottom-up stock selection process of value investing that has produced a strong long term track record for its clients. The International Equity Plus Fund invests primarily in the EAFE (Europe, Australasia, Far East) markets, but also has some exposure to high quality companies in North America as well as the emerging markets. Despite the challenging market environment since the Fund’s launch in 2007, Tradewinds has added value for our clients.